Building construction unit



1945: R. w. MCLAUGHLIN, JR 2 ,389,863

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION UNI T Filed April 25, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Nov. 27, 1945 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION UNIT Robert W. McLaughlin, Jr., Bedford Village, N. Y., assignor to American Houses, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application April 25, 1944, Serial No. 532,581

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in prefabricated structural units.

This invention relates primarily to improvements in the structures shown and described in the copending applications of Robert W. Mc- Laughlin, Jr., Serial No. 440,673, filed April 27, 1942, for Building construction unit and Serial No. 465,982, filed November 18, 1942, for Building construction unit, and it is an object of the invention to provide an improved structure of the type shown generally in the said copending applications, the improvement residing essentially in the provision of improved venting means for predetermined panels in the structural grid type of unit described in the said copending applications;

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for hanging and positioning window and screen elements in structural grid assemblies of the type specified.

Other objects of the invention will in part appear hereinafter and will in part be obvious.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which Will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in plan of an openable vent or hinged window and screen construction for use in connection with any predetermined panel of the grid structure described in said copending applications, th left half of Fig. 1 representing the exterior view of such a vented panel and the right half of Fig, 1 representing the interior view thereof;

Fig. 2 is a view in section along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in section along th line 3-3 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 represents in plan a typical structural unit embodying the novel window or vent of the present invention.

The structural units to which the present invention pertains comprise essentially multiplicities of vertical load-supporting studs and horizontal frame members cross-lapped to provide a structural grid. In the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, th frame members employed in the formation of the grid Cl. -90) 1 a In the earlier structures embodying such structural elements, the panel closure means employed have been either opaque panels (for example of plywood or some similar material) or transparent panels of glass, and these panel elements havebeen fixedly positioned within the structural grid so as to rest against the shoulder 0 provided by the grid-forming frame elements. Where a glass panel has been employed. it has been held in place against the shoulder ordinarily by the use of a suitable glazing bead, and the same has been true generally with respect to the use of an opaque panel.

This invention is concerned primarily with the provision, in structural grids of the type described, of window elements which may be opened and of suitable screening means to protect the opening. A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. The grid elements are assembled with the shoulder providing means on the exterior of the grid. With reference to Figs. 2 and 3, the exterior of the grid is to the left in Fig. 2 and downwardly in Fig. 3. The shoulder referred to is shown in Fig. 2 as at is on element l0, and in Fig. 3 as at [6 on element l2. Against this shoulder there is provided a sub-frame for the reception of the hinged window element of the invention. As shown in Fig, 2, the uppermost. portion of the sub-frame I8 is shaped to provide a downwardly extending lip 29, which acts to protect the joint between the hinged window element and the sub-frame from the weather, and the lower section of thesubframe 22 is shaped with a downwardly inclining upper surface against which the lower portion of the hinged window element rests so as to again prevent water from seeping in under the window. The two side elements of the sub-frame are rectangular in shape as is shown most clearly in Fig. 3 at 24.

The hinged window element 30 is mounted 5 within the sub-frame so as to swing outwardly upon hinges 32 affixed to the under surface of the upper portion of the sub-frame and to the upper surface of the window frame 34. When closed, the window abuts against a shoulder element 36 extending completely around the panel or grid opening and afiixed to the structural elements forming the grid.

This element 38 provides, adjacent the inner face of the structural grid, a shoulder 38 for the reception of a screen element 40, which may be removably positioned in any desired way adjacent the inner surface of the grid. A preferred method of hanging the screen element is to hinge it to the structural grid elements along its upper edge as, for example, at 42.

Catch means, not shown, may be provided for holding the screen in place against the shoulder 36, and any suitable means may be provided for holding the hinged window element 30 in open position. If desired, this means may take the form of a notched, hingedly mounted arm, affixed to the lOWer portion of the window and adapted to be placed into engagement with a suitable lug or other retaining means afiixed to the surface of the shoulder element 36.

With a structure such as has been described, all the elements may be fabricated away from the building site, and the structural grid and the window framing elements may be assembled eas ily and rapidly at the place of construction by unskilled labor, if necessary. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the structural grid assembly is so designed that all of the panels therein are of substantially the same size. This may be readily accomplished by forming the grid sition of the windows, he may do so readily, rapidly and cheaply without loss of material and without destruction of the structural unit itself. Furthermore, structures of the type described lend themselves admirably to the production of temporary dwellings and the like, for the entire I structure may be rapidly disassembled and re- Cil moved to another site at small cost and without loss of structural elements.

In Fig. 4 there is shown a typical structural grid assembly of the type referred to herein adapted particularly for use, for example, in the short side or end of a dwelling, as a wall. The two lowermost panel elements 50 are shown as opaque panels. The four vented panels are shown as at 52. The remaining panel elements, for example the panels 54, are shown as glazed but not openable. The upper edge of the structural grid is shown as inclined to provide for the reception of a pitched roof. It will be immediately apparent that the vented panels may be positioned anywhere in the structure and that there may, if desired, be more or less than four without in any way altering the structure of the grid itself.

It will, of course, be obvious that the structural grid andthe panels formed therein may be of any desired size or shape. The grid itself may be rectangular or square and the panel elements may be either square, or higher, than they are wide, or shaped generally as shown, for example, in Fig. 4. Moreover, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the stud elements of the grid are interchangeable with one another, as are the horizontal bracing elements, so that assembly of the grid is facilitated. All such alterations in the structure are to be deemed to fall within the scope of the invention.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. A structural assembly of the character described comprising, in combination, a pair of spaced vertical, load-supporting stud elements and a pair of spaced horizontal frame elements cross-lapped with said studs to form a windowreceiving opening, said stud and frame elements being so shaped as to provide a shoulder within said opening, means forming a sub-frame positioned against the shoulder within said opening, a window element comprising a frame mounted within said sub-frame and hinged to the upper horizontal section thereof to swing outwardly, and means positioned within said opening and in engagement with said stud elements, said first-mentioned frame elements and said sub-frame and providing a further shoulder against which said window abuts when closed.

2. A structural assembly of the character described comprising, in combination, a pair of spaced vertical, load-supporting stud elements and a pair of spaced horizontal frame elements cross-lapped with said studs to form a windowreceiving opening, said stud and frame elements being so shaped as to provide a shoulder within said opening, means forming a sub-frame positioned against the shoulder within said opening, a window element comprising a frame mounted within said sub-frame and hinged to the upper horizontal section thereof .to swing outwardly, means positioned within said opening and in engagement with said stud elements, said first-mentioned frame elements and said sub-frame and providing a further shoulder against which said window abuts when closed, and a screen element positioned behind said windoW and within said opening and hinged to one of said first-mentioned frame elements and abutting against said last-mentioned shoulder-providing means.

ROBERT W. MCLAUGHLIN, JR.. 

